Performed in 46 countries, in 23 languages, with over 500 productions and countless awards to its credit, VISITING MISTER GREEN is a stage play by American author Jeff Baron. This year it celebrates its 20th anniversary since it opened at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with Eli Wallach in the lead role.

A new production of this well-loved and inspirational play will be proudly presented, for the first time in Sandton by Daphne Kuhn from the 15th May till the 10th June at the Auto & General Theatre on the Square. It will be directed by leading director Alan Swerdlow, designed by award winner Denis Hutchinson and feature a star cast - with Michael Richard in the title role as Mr. Green and Roberto Pombo as Ross.

Eighty-six-year-old widower Mr. Green is almost hit by a car driven by young corporate executive Ross Gardiner. Found guilty of reckless driving, Ross is ordered to spend the next six months making weekly visits to Mr. Green. What starts off as a comedy about two people who resent being in the same room together, develops into drama as family secrets are revealed and old wounds are opened.

“We are moved by this tightrope game, a beautiful lesson in humanity"- Le Télegramme (Paris)"the play explores family alienation and loneliness, but in an engaging, often humorous way - an audience pleaser” - Washington Post

The show runs nightly at 8.15 and at 6pm and 8.15 on a Saturday. There will be a Sunday perf0rmance on the 10th June at 3pm.Enquire about group discounts and dinner show packages. We can also arrange a short Q & A after the show with the cast, should you wish to attend with a school group. Bookings can be made by calling the theatre on 011 883-8606 or book online: www.computicket.com or tel. the Computicket call centre on 0861 915 8000

COMING SOON

FROM KOE’SIESTES TO KNEIDLACH

FROM KOE’SIESTES TO KNEIDLACH written by and starring Chantal Stanfield

Directed by Megan Furniss

12th – 23rd June

This is the totally bizarre, completely hilarious, strangely moving and absolutely true story of what happened when a brownish girl from the Cape Flats got involved with a Jew-ish boy from Joburg’s East Rand returns to the theatre for a limited run, after a sold out season in 2017!

Chantal Stanfield shares her mostly accurate personal story of what happened to her – a girl from the Cape Flats – and how she entered the strange world of Jewish Joburg, where she had to navigate meeting the boyfriend’s family at her first shabbos ever, to late-night benching (no, not the gym kind), and the strange and secret spaces of shul and shandes (scandals). She wrestles with confusion over her identity, and the various labels that are placed on her while trying to understand Yiddish (oy gevalt!), gefilte fish and decades-old faribels! She deals with the panic of what to wear to a bris (ritual circumcision of a week-old boy baby) and being questioned about her afro hair.

This uniquely South African tale reveals the first-hand experiences of being a Goy (a Yiddish word used by some Jews to describe a non-Jew), and a ‘coloured’ one at that in the tiny, tight Jewish community of Joburg. Chantal tries to get to grips with a culture and heritage that is so vastly different to her own, but sometimes, surprisingly similar. Along the way we meet the omnipresent voice of her mother, her gay best friend and even her first Rabbi.

FROM KOE’SIESTES TO KNEIDLACH will run at the Auto & General Theatre on the Square from 12th – 23rd June. There will be 6 performances per week - Tuesdays to Fridays at 8.15pm and two shows on Saturdays at 6pm and 8.15pm. Enquire about dinner show specials and group discounts. Call the theatre on 011 883-8606 or book online: www.computicket.com or tel. the call centre: 0861 915 8000

COMING SOON

LAND ACT

You may remember Daniel Mpilo Richards (Naledi Theatre Award winner for Best Breakthrough Artist/Newcomer) for his performances in the one-person shows Pay Back the Curry and State Fracture at last year, by award-winning playwright Mike Van Graan’s (also Green Man Flashing). Now the same creative team are back with their latest cutting edge and pertinent new satirical comedy, LAND ACT. Theatre legend Rob van Vuuren directs.

LAND ACT follows a similar multi-sketch format with Richards’ physical dexterity, singing, acting range, accents and characterization - and just as impressive!

COMING SOON

TARTY FLOWERS

There’s only one Fawlty Towers (the famous BBC sitcom of the 70’s) and there’s no other married couple quite like Basil and Sybil!

Now comedienne Annie Robinson and accomplished Mark Mulder – currently back on SABC TV in The Game – get the chance to share the uniquely Fawlty experience with Sandton audiences in their new two-hander comedy show, TARTY FLOWERS! Devised and directed by Paul Spence, TARTY FLOWERS is pure, delicious Fawlty fun from start to finish. Audiences will get the distinct feeling that they are guests in the dining room of the infamous Torquay hotel! Book now!

Jo, a recent divorcée, arrives for her first session with Cape Town’s top psychologist, Carl Zimmerman. Apart from the expected couch in the consulting room, there is a Steinway baby-grand piano and a couple of guitars. Here Carl uses music therapy to work through divorce issues. In this 60minute musical rollercoaster-ride, they laugh, cry, share and lay bare their broken hearts through song and chat. By the end of the session we could almost believe that these two total strangers are ready to fall in love again.

Every song in A COUCH AND A PIANO is a popular classic, with each song relating to different aspects of the emotional divorce spectrum.

Filled with humanity, humour, and razor-sharp dialogue, FREUD’S LAST SESSION imagines the meeting of two of the 20th century’s greatest academics. On the brink of war in Europe, author and former atheist C.S. Lewis visits the London home of Dr. Sigmund Freud. Lewis’s recent embrace of Christianity stands in stark contrast to Dr. Freud, whose beliefs are influenced by his life’s work in science. Amidst evacuations and air raid sirens these two legendary scholars debate religion, sex, love, the existence of God, and the meaning of life itself.

COMING SOON

CHRISTINE & THE KILTS

18th - 29th September

featuring songs from Christine Weir’s album Invision, and also showcases some of the most beautiful Scottish and Irish standards

If you love that Celtic sound and feel like some guid Scottish humour, then button up your fly, grip onto your trouser belt and get yourself down to the Auto & General Theatre on the Square for CHRISTINE WEIR AND THE KILTS. The production features songs from Christine Weir’s album Invision, and also showcases some of the most beautiful Scottish and Irish standards such as Mull of Kintyre, Danny Boy and poplular songs like 500 Miles by The Proclaimers.

The cast comprises of brilliant siblings Christine Weir and Graham Weir of Not the Midnight Mass fame with Christine on lead vocals, Graham Weir on vocals and percussion, Matthew Weir on vocals, guitar and bass, Rayelle Goodman on violin, with piano and keyboard by Trevor du Buisson.

COMING SOON

ODD MAN OUT

2nd – 21st October

ODD MAN OUT is a new comedy by AUSTRALIA'S most prolific playwright David Williamson.

ODD MAN OUT is a new comedy by AUSTRALIA'S most prolific playwright David Williamson.

Alice and Ryan meet on a bus, and are quickly drawn to each other. They have little in common, except for a shared desperation to become coupled up. Alice is sensitive about her biological clock running out of time, and Ryan is fearful of loneliness. They work hard to create a union, and in Odd Man Out, it seems tough grind is the key to success. Alice marries the straight-talking Ryan, but soon discovers that he has Asperger's.

Described as an unconventional romantic comedy... The main theme is a couple dealing with the fact that one is naturally socially adept and one isn’t quite so good at that — and that’s where a lot of the comedy comes from. It’s a touchy subject for a light comedy but Williamson makes the most of things - packing the evening with plenty of laughs. If you want to see this brilliantly written and presented production, book soon!

COMING SOON

STUART TAYLOR’S FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT

23rd October - 3rd November

Stuart Taylor returning to the stage with his hilarious new offering, Funny You Should Say That.

Fresh from making his first feature film début in the South African comedy drama, Finders Keepers, earlier in August last year, 2018 sees comedian Stuart Taylor returning to the stage with his hilarious new offering, Funny You Should Say That.

Comedy fans are in for a massive treat as the Cape Town-born Taylor prepares to showcase his latest solo stage offering – his first comedy show in three years. “Developing the material in the comedy clubs over the past few months has been a blast for me. I turned 40 recently, so I guess this show is my version of a ‘mid-lifecrisis! FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THATis directed by the multi-talented award-winning theatre director and comic, Rob van Vuuren – and promises to deliver all the laughs and punchlines to get you into a great mood.

COMING SOON

THE REVLON GIRL

12th November – 12th December

"A brilliant piece of theatre... And the performances are superb" ★★★★ The Wee Review

Four mothers grieve the loss of their children in the Aberfan disaster in a remarkably warm, sorrowful and at times even funny drama about survivors, small-town bickering and make-up.

In 1966, in the Welsh mining village of Aberfan, the “tips” – essentially man-made hills of discarded coal and the insides of the mines – were piled on top of a stream which after months collapsed, sliding down onto the village below and killing 144 people in just a few minutes. Of these, 116 were children, whose school lay in the path of the slide.

Set eight months after the tragedy, THE REVLON GIRL tells the story of five bereaved mothers gathering for an almost ceremonial visit from one of the Revlon make-up girls. The play and their evening touch upon grief, guilt, greed, religion and the horrific etiquette of mourning.

The Auto & General Theatre on the Square presents a remarkably warm, sorrowful, and times funny drama about survivors, small-town bickering and make-up.

The Revlon Girl, despite its subject matter is full of laughter, mainly because of the interplay between four women who have known one another since childhood, yet initial jokes are hard to stomach because of the dark subject matter that will inevitably follow, and the awkwardness of the outsider from Revlon – a proper outsider, from over the border in Bristol.

"Shocking, heartbreaking The Revlon Girl offers no cosmetic solution to unbearable pain but does suggest the power of powder and eye-liner in helping heal wounds." ★★★★★ Stage Review

"A brilliant piece of theatre... And the performances are superb" ★★★★ The Wee Review

"A funny, feisty, heart-wrenching story of how lipstick can look like hope" ★★★★ The Wee Review

TWEETS

CONTACT

Nelson Mandela Square (formerly Sandton Square) adjoins Sandton City - just off Rivonia Rd. Entrances to the Square and the parking garage are in West Street and 5th Street, Sandown. Click here to view Google Maps.

PERFORMANCES

Tuesdays to Saturday, at 8:15pm

Saturdays at 6pm and 8:15pm

Show times may differ slightly - please contact the theatre to confirm show times - 011 883 8606

The ramped backstage entrance opens 15minutes before the show.

Please ensure you are at the theatre 15 minutes before the show.

Special show times can be arranged should you wish to book the whole theatre